What to do on Martinique:
What else do you do besides eating on Martinique? Good question. Mostly, relax. But there are other activities:
BEACHES & SWIMMING
The best beaches for swimming and lounging are on the southwestern coast. The black sand beaches on the northeastern side are much rougher.
Les Salines at the southern tip is often called the best beach on Martinique. Even when other areas on the island are cloudy, Les Salines is almost always sunny.
Anse Céron is a beautiful black-sand beach with beautiful coconut trees and a wilder landscape. Ilet la Perle, is a rock of the shore that's a good place for scuba diving.
HIKING
Martinique has great hiking through the rainforest in the Pitons du Carbet and the ruins of Château Dubuc on the Caravelle Peninsula. The most difficult trails wind up Mont Pelée on the northwestern side.
SCUBA DIVING & SNORKELING
Grand Anse is a great spot for easy dives and snorkeling with its calm waters and coral. Sainte-Anne and Sainte-Peirre are also good snorkeling locations.
Cap Enragé, north of Case-Pilote, has underwater caves full of fish and marine life.
Rocher du Diamant (Diamond Rock) has more caves, but rougher waters.
Ilet la Perle, a rock off the northwestern coast, is a spot to see groupers, eels and lobsters.
REMAINS OF SAINTE- PIERRE
The remains of the city of Sainte-Pierre are a main attraction. Destroyed in a volcanic eruption of Mount Pelee in 1902, only one survivor escaped and 30,000 people were killed.
There are even 12 shipwrecks in the bay from the eruption, which are great diving destinations. You can tour the site on a train, the Cyparis Express, named after the single survivor, or see the museum for more of the remains of the city.
SHOPPING
Fort-de-France has many shops for authentic creole crafts and jewelry.
Other shopping centers are in Lamentin:
Centre Commercial de Place d'Armes
Centre Commercial La Galleria -
And Schoelcher:
Centre Commercial La Bateliere
Centre Commercial de Cluny
NIGHTLIFE
Evenings in Martinique are spent gambling in the casinos, dancing in a disco or taking in live music.
CASINO BATELIÈRE PLAZA (Schoelcher; 0596/61-73-23), is just outside of Fort-de-France, and open from 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. during the week, and 4 a.m. on weekends, but closed on Sunday. You’ll need a passport and the proper attire (jacket and tie for men, dresses for women) to play blackjack, roulette, or stud poker.
CRAZY NIGHT (Sainte-Luce; 0596/68-56-68), can hold up to 1,000 people and is very popular for dancing to live music or a DJ.
Feature Hotel/Resort of the Month:
Anguilla's Cap Juluca
Cap Juluaca regularly rates in the Top 10 world resorts for both Travel and Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler.
Cap Juluca is situated on the southwest coast of Angulla and overlooks the mountains of St. Marten. Cap Juluca sits on 179 acres of Land and is renouned for its 2.5 miles of white powder beaches and the unequalled privacy and luxury of the accommodations.
Click here to read more about The Long Bay.